Although given US influence in IMF and US paranoia about Egypt, this is not entirely ridiculous, it should be: Egypt rules out IMF emergency finance - FT.com Egypt rules out IMF emergency finance By Heba Saleh in Cairo In an apparent attempt to exert pressure on the International Monetary Fund,...[More]

I would very much like to write something in depth on this local crisis, insofar as I have done business and know fairly well the countries directly involved. However, since I am working on closing an investment, I have to be short.First, relative to Mali itself, it seems to me...[More]

First apologies for a year of absence. I have been supporting several partners on creating a new firm and wrapping a major project that has dragged two years. Now that things are getting hot out in the Maghreb, it is worth tracking given the spill into the Maghreb via Algeria...[More]

Typically, something claiming to refute "anti-Israel myths" tracks these lines: a) “no, Israel doesn’t run an apartheid system towards Palestinians”, b) “no, Israel was not a state built on ethnic cleansing, aggressive expansion, and colonial oppression,” and c) “no, the current occupation of Palestinian Arabs is not abusive of international...[More]

I have been submerged in a major investment effort. However as it seems to have gone totally side-ways, have more time on my hands. Shall return starting today with some comments on our Arab Spring -MENA 1848- developments....[More]

The Economist Blog on America has a wise comment, in Israel, Iran and America: Auschwitz complex | The Economist that is rather more intelligent the normal idiocy that is written about Israel But Israel has even less control over its own destiny than Portugal or Britain do. The main reason...[More]

In an apparent attempt to exert pressure on the International Monetary Fund, Egypt has ruled out seeking emergency finance from the fund and said it still wants to secure a $4.8bn loan agreement.

Egypt is in free fall, has rather little hard currency oxygen left.

Balance of payment support has become urgent in recent weeks as the country, which imports a large proportion of its food and fuel, has depleted two-thirds of its foreign reserves. Those now stand at $13.5bn, slightly less than the critical level of three months’ import cover.

In an apparent attempt to exert pressure on the International Monetary Fund, Egypt has ruled out seeking emergency finance from the fund and said it still wants to secure a $4.8bn loan agreement.

Egypt is in free fall, has rather little hard currency oxygen left.

Balance of payment support has become urgent in recent weeks as the country, which imports a large proportion of its food and fuel, has depleted two-thirds of its foreign reserves. Those now stand at $13.5bn, slightly less than the critical level of three months’ import cover.

I caught this MENA-set French film by accident while aiming to see another, and misreading the schedule. My mistake angers me. Why? Because it caused me to see this flick. Make no mistake, this film, about an aging sleazoid expat...[More]

Coincidentally, I re-picked up this 1867 humorous classic travelogue of Mark Twain's for a (re-)glance not too long after Mr. Netanyahu had threatened to (re-)use it for sundry and sordid Middle East polemics. The Israeli Prime Minister had planned to...[More]